Deceitful Alliance

By Erick San Juan

It has been ten years ago since the Declaration on Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) was signed by the ten-member nations of the ASEAN with China in Cambodia.

And now in the same place, at Phnom Penh in Cambodia where the countries of East Asia with ASEAN had their summit. The issue on the disputes in the South China Sea was once again tackled but not with the consensus of the parties concerned. Why is this so? The fact that the nations comprising ASEAN agreed not to ‘internationalize’ the sea disputes in the summit. But still, the Philippines and Vietnam raised the issue and President Noynoy Aquino, in particular, disagreed publicly with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

As what the Daily Tribune emphatically put it, that the Philippines “acting as the US’ frontal attack dog’ against China during the Asean summit in Cambodia” …. and “referred to China as the “foreign aggressor” from whom he and Filipinos will never retreat”, is a clear sign that kowtowing to Uncle Sam will not help us solve the issues and put us in a bad light in the international community.

For the past few days since the incident at the Summit, tensions started to heighten again and more provocations are in the offing, e.g. the revival of the 9-dash line of China’s claim in the SCS by including it in their map and putting it in their e-passport is not a good sign. Added to this is the meeting of some Asean-member claimants next month that will be hosted by PNoy to discuss the SCS issue (again) whether the claimants can tackle it on a multilateral basis.

According to some pundits – “not to internationalize the South China Sea issue” is one of the important principles written in the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea that’s why China has been consistently stubborn in its bilateral approach in solving the disputes in the SCS issue. Some experts believe that efforts will be wasted if the claimants will insist on the multilateral approach as basis for solving the problem.

Martin Jacques, a British author told the local media last week that in the face of provocations, China will not go to war over Spratlys and/or Scarborough Shoal. His advice, “Don’t lose the perspective, the big picture… Smart governments think strategically. They have a sense of the future and have a sense of what to do, know its priorities,” is something to ponder by leaders of different countries (claimants or not).

PNoy might be losing some of his perspectives and blindly following a perceived master. believing that in the long run this master will be there to fight for us. How pathetic.

In the midst of a possible regional conflict, a good leader should know his priorities and how to approach the matter at hand strategically without compromising the safety of the whole populace. Any miscalculation and foolish act of belligerence can lead to a mutually assured destruction. It could result into blaming the present leadership’s lack of perspective and sense of what to do in such confrontation. In the end, the Rankopedia survey group’s report will soon be a reality. It stated that PNoy is the worst President of all times and Hitler is only second to him in rank, (translation) our country will be a witting cannon fodder to the dictates of a perceived master and a lot of Filipinos will die in the process.

Geostrategic approach, firm and clear foreign policy should be the order of the day in order to ‘read the game’ the G2 (US and China) are playing. The game plan is deep and dark in the eyes of the world to see and comprehend. It needs a wise leader with a heart and the eyes to see the big picture that all of these are being played against us as a nation. The present government should not be fooled with rhetoric and deceit, or this country will suffer the worst consequences of a war that only the powerful will win.

“Walang tutulong sa Filipino kundi kapwa Filipino!”